Sanchez, the defense lawyer, had wanted her client to plead guilty. Her client, Holmes, probably wasn't guilty, but
the prosecutor was going to use so many shady tactics to
make him look guilty, Sanchez wasn't sure she could win.
With a guilty plea, Holmes would at least get a lighter
sentence. But there was no use arguing with him anymore.
Holmes had insisted. "Even if they lock me up for years," he
had said, "I will never admit to that crime." Holmes was a
difficult man to work with, but Sanchez admired his sense
of honor.
The judge banged her gavel and asked, "How do you
plead?"
Sanchez took a deep breath. "Not guilty, Your Honor," she
said. And so the trial began.